The ReLIFE of an EX Japanese Singer
by chachingmel123
Summary: Having being fired from her job at LME. Carline turned into a NEET and suffered repeat Job failure. Hope comes in the form of a suspicious looking man who offers her a chance in an experiment that would guarantee her a job at the end of it. INSPIRED BY THE WEBTOON 'ReLIFE'.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Having being fired from her job at LME. Carline turned into a NEET and suffered repeat Job failure. Hope comes in the form of a suspicious looking man who offers her a chance in an experiment that would guarantee her a job at the end of it.

I do not own Skip Beat.

Enjoy!

"Sorry, but you're not the kind of person we're looking for"

The damming words crushed her soul.

24-year-old Carline Chan, swallowed hard and said. "It's alright. Thank you for telling me"

Then the call ended.

"DAMN It!" She yelled, throwing her phone to the floor.

Luckily a plush carpet was spread onto the cold hard floor, absorbing most of the damage that would have been unleashed onto the poor phone.

How many times, had she been rejected now!?

Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered!

She took out a cigarette and want back to playing Batman.

Something that would be completely shocking since she was so pretty.

Her main occupation was being a NEET.

The bottom of society.

But it wasn't like she didn't want to get out of her situation, she sent out her CV like crazy to anybody who was offering a job.

Unfortunately, she failed every one of them making her dispair even more.

But it wasn't always like this.

Once upon a time, she had gotten a magical job at Lory's Majestic Entertainment, the number one showbiz company in the whole of Japan.

The company had produced so many amazing talents like Kuu Hizuri, Kuon Hizuri and now Kyoko Mogami.

Back then she was so young, fresh from school and had signed up for as an artist.

She dreamt of fame and fortune, wanting to write inspiration songs that would help people all over.

The industry was a harsh place.

She went in completely naïve to such a world.

There were literally hundreds of artist's fighting for top spot, just so that people could send the most money their way.

Willing to do anything just to stand out.

She had trusted the wrong person.

Her own Senpai.

Carline had kept a small book with all her lyrics inside, wanting to get some advice from somebody who was experienced in the industry on if she had any talent.

Who would have thought her Senpai would lie straight to her face, and then a month later on the radio, she heard her own lyrics in a new song that apparently was so good that it managed to boot Sho Fuwa off his throne and place him at number two.

The song was a hit and her Senpai group was claiming full ownership of it.

She could not believe it and confronted her about it.

Only for the women to completely deny it until Carline told her, she would sue the group for stealing her lyrics.

Only to be laughed at.

The women told her that nobody would believe her and the copyright for the song was already in the group's name.

Could she, a fresh artist who only had one song out to her name, be able to sue a really popular girl group?

Apart from her book, where was her proof?

She had no video evidence, she did not record herself while she wrote down the lyrics to truly show the date and time that it was produced.

And Carline realised, she was right.

Even if she did get somebody to listen to her, she did not even have the money to sue them in court.

Lawyers were incredibly expensive and the court case could take years.

She was only 19 year's old, how the hell was she going to get the money to sue!

She wasn't a big-time celebrity who could afford that stuff!

And her Senpai know it too.

The Song was officially under the group's name and she could do nothing to take that away.

But that didn't stop her from telling everybody that she wrote the song.

She was even going to show her book to someone only to find out she had been scarred, distrustful of anybody taking a look.

Nobody believed her without any evidence.

She was called delusional and the song want onto to win two awards.

She closed off herself from the word and her profession suffered for it because she was not willing to shear her lyrics with the world.

And when an artist isn't popular enough after some time, they are given the axe.

She was given that Axe.

She was given her monthly salary and asked politely to leave, the media were told it was due to 'Health' problem's.

But she didn't fall into despair.

It was like a breath of fresh air, having stepped away from the crushing environment.

There were plenty of job's out there that did not involve producing music, she just had to find the right one.

It was too bad, that when your fired from a company that big and connected, people ask why you were fired.

The first time she was asked, her mouth did not make a sound and she ended up flunking the interview.

Interview after interview, by the time she could finally speak on the matter, it was too late.

Flunking so many interviews and having 'mental health problems' come up whenever she tried, had Employers skipping her.

She became a NEET who was in the loop of failing interviews and only getting part time work.

The kind of part time, teenagers would do just to earn some extra cash.

It was really shameful.

Suddenly her phone that was on the floor beeped.

She sighed and get up and picked the phone off the floor, only to freeze when she saw an unknown number.

Could it be somebody offering her a chance for another interview?

She really hoped.

She answered the phone and said.

"Hello"

But who she heard next had her seething with rage, even after 5 years, she would recognise the voice anyway.

"Hello? Carline. I don't think you remember me but this Tan Minso from 5 years ago. I was your Senpai"

IT WAS HER!

 _HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET MY PHONE NUMBER!?_ Carline thought, before she forced a smile through her throat while her face looked like a lion and said.

"Minso-sampai! Of course, I'll remember you. How have you been?"

There was a pause on the other end, no doubt surprised by her 'cheerful' response before saying.

"Pretty good. Me and some girl's are out and we just happen to remember you. We would love for you to join us"

'Happen', indeed.

 _What is this bitch up to?_ Carline thought, the last time she checked, this women was glad that she was fired and now she was calling her up out of the blue to hang out?

She was no longer that naïve little girl no more.

"Sure. Where do you want to meet?" She said.

Let's, see how this play's out.

She was given the address of a famous hang out where lots of big time celebs hung out.

It wasn't the kind of place, she could just walk into with a casual pair of jeans and T-shirt.

Luckily, she still had the clothes her parents gave her for her birthday.

It was painful opening up her make-up kit, because her expensive make-up had been replaced with the really cheap stuff because she didn't have the money to buy an expensive brand.

She missed the day's when she didn't have to worry about it and some professional did her face.

Luckily, there was video's on YouTube that made people look amazing even with the cheapest of make-up's.

If done right, nobody would know she was wearing several yen worth of make-up from the discount store.

She took off her clothes and wrapped herself in a towel, because she know the make-up with cheap brushes were very likely to go all over the place due to their low quality.

30 minutes later, she arrived at the hang out, looking like she had just exited out of a photoshoot, she wore a nice yellow flowering dress and yellow high heels, hooped earrings and an expensive handbag, that she took out in case she needed to impress.

She felt shame pretending to be something she was not, but at least she didn't have the word 'jobless' on her back anymore.

Several guy's turned towards her, wondering who the celebrity was that just walked through the door.

"Carline, is that you?" Said, a woman, making her turn her head.

She saw a woman who was about 26 years old, with brown wavy hair combed to one side in a pony tail, wearing a designer blouse and jeans, the woman no looked as young.

Next to her where her group mates that no longer looked as young either.

"Minso-sampai?" Carline said, forcing a smile on her face and walking over.

She found herself in a private wing made just for those who just wanted to talk without being bothered.

She sat down on the table.

"Carline. You look good." Minso said, before putting her acting skills to the test. "We were all worried about you, when we heard you got fired"

"It was hard at first but I managed to pick myself up" Carline said, still smiling while the inner her had the face of murder.

"Good. Let's buy you something to eat" Minso said, thinking to ease her into it first.

Well Carline wasn't going to complain about free food, even if it was from a person she would rather not take anything from.

"You don't have to" Carline said.

"We insist" Said with the band member's.

They then brought over the kind of food Carline could only have on a good day.

She mentally patting herself on the back for not losing all self-control and devouring everything insight instead she restrained herself to eat elegantly.

They all waited for her to finish her food, before telling her the real reason she was even here.

"Carline, you still write song's right" Minso began.

Carline froze for a split second before saying. "Even if I don't sing anymore. I still write, sometimes."

What is it too you? She wanted to asked.

But what she heard next had her in disbelief.

"Carline. We would to offer you a job to write for our group, 9ine." Minso said.

"What?" Carline said.

"What you wrote last time, was really good" One of the team mates said, "It even us two award's"

"We would love to have you on board" Another team member said.

It was in that moment, Carline understood what was happening.

9ine, hadn't had a hit song in years.

Any song they produced on their own did not even crack the top twenty in the charts and their fans base was dwindling so fast, that people were starting to forget who they were.

The only reason why they still had a fan base was because they were good looking.

But the reality was, they were getting old.

There was only so much time left where they could shake their ass and still make money.

They had already lost their place to younger and more fresher talent.

Unfortunately, they did not have the ability to write hit song after hit song to keep them relevant like Sho Fuwa who at the age of 24 had been crowd the Japanese Music God.

That guy was going nowhere and would still have fans in his late 50's.

To stay in the business, they had no choice but to turn to the writer of the song that made them shoot to stardom.

Her.

And because she had been fired, they couldn't find ways to steal another song from her.

There only choice was to employ her for her work.

But the real question was, would she even get credited for any song produced? How much will they been willing to pay for her to look their way?

Did they think, she had no self-respect for herself?

"I'll be leaving now" She said, shocking them all.

"What?" Minso said.

"Do you really think I'm so shallow that I will even entertain the thought of working with people who stole my song and profited from it?" Carline said, "If I write a song, how much of what it makes, will exactly go to me? Will I be credited? Will I get half of it or will you pay me minimum wage, thinking that I will be happy? If that's the case...we have nothing to talk about. I don't need you as much as you need me. So goodbye."

Then she walked away, she ignored any shouts for her to come back.

Their only hope of staying in the limelight, was practically walking out of the door.

And boy did she feel good, walking out.

She walked passed a Kuon and Kyoko Mogami-san poster and almost collapsed.

Damn it!

That was a job!

Why did she not throw away her self-respect?

What was she going to do now?

"Excuse me" Said, a deep man's voice.

She turned around to find a surprisingly tall male with shabby blond hair covering half of his face wearing a business suit.

Must be nice.

"My name is Kugo Takao and I work for a company called ReLife Laboratory" The man said, with a business smile on his face while handing her a professional looking business card. "We were wondering if you would like to partake in an experiment"

An Experiment?

"No thank you" Carline said, if they were going to sell her stuff in the end, she did not need it and turned away. "Unless, you give me free stuff. I'm not buying it."

"What if I told you, for a whole year, all your expenses will be paid by the company and by the end of it, you will be guaranteed a job at the company?" The man said.

She froze.

"Come again?" She said, turning her head.

 _He had hooked her in._

And scene!

Next chapter, Carline wakes up to find her body had turned back to when she 17 and some weirdo tells her that he would observe for one year. Review/fav and follow!


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Skip Beat.

Enjoy!

"Urg. What happened?" Carline groaned, for some reason she found herself in her own bathroom.

She slowly stood up, feeling a headache come and go in a span of a few seconds, but when she looked in a mirror, she recoiled back in shock.

Her tired and adult filled face had transformed to look younger, her eyes were bigger and even her neck was thinner then it was used today.

It was like she was staring into the face of her teenage self, even her hair had this young feel to it instead of 'adult' feel.

She wentto touch it, only to see the reflection do the same thing.

She almost fainted.

IT WAS HER!

Her hands had become smaller and her clothes had become big on her frame!

What the hell happened!?

"Ah" She said, recalling what actually happened last night.

#Flashback to last night#

"The experiment is very simple, Miss Chan" The man said, holding up a small bag that held a single small pill in it. "All you have to do is, take this pill. It will revert your body back to when you were 17 years old"

"And if I take this... all my expenses will be paid for, for a full year and I'll get a job?" She said, she didn't for one minute believe that the pill could do all that.

As long as it didn't exactly kill her she was fine with it.

"Yes. The company will take care of all your expenses and you will get the job, after one year." The man said, "But I do have to warn you that, it taste's quite bitter, so I recommend that you wash it down with water."

But she was hardly not listening.

She grabbed the pill from the man's hand and started creepily cackling.

This was a dream come true.

#End of Flashback#

Her eyes suddenly found a glass cup on the floor, with a little bit of water spilling out.

It can't be.

But it was the only thing made sense.

She had taken the pill and it worked!

Her doorbell rang.

Ch 2: Reliving Highschool life.

*Ring*

*Ring*

Whoever it was that was ringing her doorbell was annoyingly persistent, the bell had been ringing for five minutes straight, snapping her out of her shock.

"Coming in" She said, walking forward only to find that her dress that fit her so perfectly yesterday was now her enemy today by trying to slide off her frame.

But when she finally answered the door, she had a heart attack.

It was the man in the suit!

"Good morning, Miss Chan" The man said, with a refreshing smile that made her eyes hurt, before he literally barged into her home without promotion.

 _HOW ON EARTH!_ She wondered, wondering how he found her house.

"By the way, Miss Chan. You should really change into something more suitable. I can see your rose colour bra" He said, and Carline looked down to find out half of her bra was indeed showing.

"TURN AROUND PERVERT!" She yelled.

The man seemed to find this funny, but it wasn't until she throw a shoe at him that he finally turned around and she was free to go to her room, to find clothes, really old clothes that she was meaning to throw out.

She came out in a red blouse with jeans, she used to wear this all the time before she out grow them.

"What the hell is going on!? Why do I look like this?" Carline said.

"Didn't I tell you, that if you took the pill, your body will become 17 years old?" The man said.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE JOKING!" Carline said, this wasn't Rick and Morty!

"Out of all the experiments, you have got to be the most eager to take the pill" The man said, amused. "Congrats on your reclaimed Youth."

"CHANGE ME, BACK! I HAVE AN INTERVIEW, IN THREE DAYS!" Carline said, she couldn't go to the interview like this!

"I can't." The man said, his words sucker punching her. "You signed a legally binding contract."

Huh?

,

,

Now that she thought about it... she remembered him pulling out something like that.

Did that mean, she couldn't smoke or drink no more?

NOOOOOOOOOO!

"As promised, for a whole year the company will take care of all your living expenses and by the end of it, you will have a job." The man said, making her perk up.

"...so what happens now?" She said.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Man said, in a disgustingly 'cutesy' tone. "You're going to back to high school, my sweet heart."

.

.

.

"Huh?" Carline said, with wide eyes.

"The experiment aim, is to basically turn people who are **shut in** , into **normal working members of society"** He said, each word he spoke was like a heavy blow to her heart. "You will redo your last year of school and hopefully, it will heal any wounds in your heart"

"What the hell?" She said, was this some kind of romantic story? But then a thought occurred to her that made her say. "Wait...what would happen to the class I'm in, after that one year?"

The man then said, with a beaming smile despite his terrifying words. "We'll erase all evidence of you from the school and from their minds"

"Are you even allowed to do that?" She just had to ask, what was this, the Man in Black?

"The company works alongside the government since there is benefits on both side. They don't really care how we do it, as long as we show results" The man said, continuing to smile.

"Why does the government sound like it's run by terrible people?" She deepened.

"I'll be your RELIFE overseer and will record down all your wonderful experience" He said.

"So basically, you'll be stalking me like some weirdo" She said.

"Pretty much" the man said, cheerfully.

"Your uniform will arrive in two days' along with other things, alongside the information on which school you'll be going to. I heard the uniform, is quite cute" The man said, unnecessarily commented in Carline mind.

" **Leave** " She said, who was this man and why was his personality so terrible?

"Okay, then" The man said, getting up before dropping the bomb.

"By the way, the company has tapped everything you have. I'm looking forward to observe you"

"THEY DID WHA-" the door was slammed shut, leaving Carline paranoid, nobody liked to be spied on.

The rest of the day, she spent her time trying to find anything suspicious in her house but she couldn't find anything so she assumed, he was just blowing hot air.

But true to what he said before, her uniform came two days later, and it wasn't just any uniform, it was a prep school uniform!

The kind of school, she could not possibly afford to go to and yet she holding such a highly quality material, the bow itself would probably cost her a month's salary, not to mention the small blue jacket, white shirt and dark black shirt.

The sparkling blue shoes but her old school shoes to shame.

She was almost afraid to try it on.

But eventually she tried it on and looked in the mirror, expecting to see a grown ass woman trying on a too tight uniform, but surprisingly it looked great on her, there was no awkward signs on her body.

She looked so cute!

She had to take a picture.

She took out her phone and put it on camera mode, she was put a timer on it and got into what she deemed was a cute pose.

Only for the moment she posed, she felt a strong presence of somebody laughing at her.

She quickly turned around only to find nobody was there, was she imagining it?

In the next couple of days, all her stuff arrived, including a new bag and a phone that put her dinosaur flip phone to shame.

For the first time in her life, she held an up to date touch phone.

She took a moment to truly enjoy the feeling in her hands, before heading in the direction of Riverview Prep School.

Wait.

Why the hell was she walking!?

She had money now, and immediately went to call a cab.

If all her expenses where paid for, for a year, she was going to damn well use it.

She got in and from her uniform alone, the driver know where she was going to.

The card did not bounce instead it went through making her feel so relieved, outside the window, she gradually became aware that there were no young people in the same uniform as her, but when she neared the school, she understood why.

Everybody had arrived in their cars or limo's, each one of them were stationed in the large parking lot in front of the school, the same that she usually only saw from afar, she felt super awkward stepping out and having people look at her poor choice for a ride.

But she did not blush, she didn't care what she drove in.

 _Note to self, get a limo to school._ She thought to herself.

Then she saw a person holding a sign that had her name on it.

"Carline Chan?" The women said, seeing a 'young' female come to her.

"Yes, that's me" Carline said, _smile and make a good first impression._

It seemed to be working, because the women smiled, relieved that she had manners and said. "Please come with me to the Teachers office. We just need to go through a few documents."

And Carline followed her, she made sure to be well manner and not complain, everything was so huge and the Teachers office put her old one to shame, there was clearly way more money put into it but the Teachers still looked so soulless, money or not.

Huh.

She then just basically nodded to everything that was being read and apparently her new homeroom teacher went to escort her to class.

The school had a mixture of stairs and elevators, students were constantly using.

They used an elevator to get to the last floor and walked into a squeaky-clean hallway, then down the hall to a door that was equally as clean, she was told to stay until she was called in.

"Now class. We have a new student joining us today" The teacher said, suddenly sounding tired before saying to the door. "COME IN"

Carline opened the door and came in, meeting a massive classroom with brand new looking and smelling desks, teenagers in the same uniform as her, but when she came to a certain row, she almost tripped from shock.

In the far-right corner was a teenager with shaggy blond hair covering half of his face.

He looked _very_ similar to somebody she had met only recently and was apparently stalking her.

"Miss Chan" the teacher said, snapping her out of her staring.

"Oh, right.." She said, before introducing herself in a very stiff and professional manner. "My name is Carline Chan. I hope to be under all of you for the next year, please take care of me."

The teenager's blinked.

Then blinked again.

What teenager talks like that? A weirdo had appeared!

Carline, not knowing that she was being label as a weirdo, smiled.

"Very nice introduction, Miss Chan. Please sit next to Mister Takao" The teacher said, pointing at the teenager in the corner.

Even the last name was the same!

Carline made her way to the seat beside the teenager, and she just melted into bliss, it was like she was sitting in a message chair and never wanted to get up.

The teacher began to read the name on the register.

"Psst. What the hell are you doing here?" Carline said, under her breath, he took the pill too!?

But he did not respond.

"Kugo Takao?" The teacher said.

"Here" He said, in a much younger voice.

"Seriously, what is going on?" She said, louder, making those around her, hear her.

The other person seemed to have had enough.

"Shut up. Once, I let it slid but twice." The boy said, in a very harsh tone that Carline had never heard before. "Third times and you're out. If you talk to me again, I will end you"

Her eyes widen in horror.

SHE WAS WRONG!

Only their looks were similar.

Had she met the man's younger brother!?

And scene!

This all I'll upload for today. Please review/fav and follow!


End file.
